I continue to dig (or I should say, this weekend I made my avalanche class students dig!) down to the old weak snow at the base of the snowpack. In the majority of the places that I look at the old weak snow and I perform snow pit tests, I'm finding good overall stability. Occasionally I have been finding a location that doesn't look as good. I am fairly satisfied that in the majority of the terrain along the Skyline, the old weak snow is not going to pose much threat at this time.
Persistent Weak Layer Summary, 2021-2022:
There was a foot or more of snow that fell in October.
This snow melted away on many slopes but it stayed on northwest, north and northeast facing slopes above about 8500'.
The snow that stayed turned into a weak sugary layer during dry weather in November.
We saw a large amount of snow in December which landed on top of the weak snow from October.
The weak layer of sugary faceted snow collapsed and produced avalanches under the stress of the large storms.
The weak layer is still present but has gained some strength.
Snow pit tests are either non-reactive or are very stubborn to produce failure and full propagation.
